Interpreting a photograph | Stella Johnson in Greece

You can learn a lot from the way a man holds his cigarette.  Stella Johnson's photograph, Cigarette, Mytilene, Greece, 2011 is like a secret - it's a quiet image with a lot of detail and information.

Stella Johnson, Cigarette, Mytilene, Greece, 2011

On the cobblestone streets of Mytilene, Greece, Stella walks around, observing and framing up the next image that she wants to take.  She is cognizant of her surroundings - it's a place she has visited often.  The content in almost every one of her images are set up into layers - there is always something going on in the foreground, middle and in the background.  Short little vignettes play out for the viewer - all of which is captured in a split second.  In my opinion, all great photographs lead the viewer through the image.  Just for starters, check out how photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson or O. Winston Link framed their images.

A man in a grey suit sits within the foreground, cigarette in his aged right hand, a gold ring on his middle finger, a pinstriped cuff.  In this particular image, it's not so much what's going on 'in' the image, but on the outer edge of the frame.  

You continue the story.  I wonder how you would interpret it.

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